Californians share their pandemic silver lining, four years later

Today marks four years since Governor Gavin Newsom ordered all Californians to stay home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. For many people, the drastic step was the moment the pandemic became terribly real.

Covid has since killed more than 1.18 million people nationwide, and the virus continues to circulate. At the height of the recent surge in January, 2,400 people were dying from the disease every week. For many Americans, the pandemic has permanently changed life, as my colleague Julie Bosman recently wrote.

Not all of these changes have been for the worse. Readers have recently written to me about the silver linings of the pandemic — ways in which, despite all the tragedy, Covid brought something unexpectedly positive into their lives. Those stories of reconnecting with distant friends, picking up new hobbies or slowing down for the better were moving. Thanks to all who submitted them.

Feel free to email me your own pandemic pandemic story at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Please include your full name and the city where you live.

Here are some, lightly edited:

“My adult son, who lives in Los Angeles, gathered his remote work tools and joined our family pod in Escondido. His sister, who was already planning a temporary move while her home was being renovated, packed up her husband, two small children and two dogs and moved in with us. This is where we all spent the first months of the pandemic. Three months. We never had that in the old days.” — Gretchen Pelletier, Escondido

“I am an autistic adult living in a society that is not meant for me. It was nice that the world was slowing down at a pace I was comfortable with. I also loved teaching remotely with my adult ESL [English as a second language] students. Even though I have to teach in person again, the techniques I used to guide students have now made me a better blended-hybrid teacher.” — Robert B. Gomez, Salinas

“My wife, Gloria, and I started walking around our neighborhood because of the health benefits. We met neighbors in their front yards as they sat or just stepped out of the house for a bit of fresh air. Until then, an annual neighborhood potluck in the fall was perhaps the only time we got together. But it didn’t take long before we got to know each other well enough to talk about birthday celebrations and job promotions, among other ordinary and extraordinary things. By the time Covid restrictions were lifted, our sense of community had grown exponentially. We often hear that it takes a village to raise a child. Apparently it took a pandemic to lift a community.” — Louie Vega, Bakersfield

“Zoom is a gift from heaven. Now that driving in the dark is a challenge, I can still attend meetings and meditation groups via Zoom. Without the pandemic, I would never have discovered this easy way to stay connected and engaged.” — Patti Breitman, Fairfax

“My partner of over 40 years and I had been living an independent life while away from home. When the lockdown happened, we weren’t used to spending so much time together. She was living with aggressive lung cancer. The intense time together between March and July 2020, when she died, was an enormous gift that we would never have given ourselves if it had not been forced on us. I’m grateful for it to this day.” — Debra Resnik, San Francisco

Tell us

We are in the process of putting together ours California soundtrack for years and have recorded most of the hits. Which songs do you think still need to be added?

Tell us at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Include your name, the city you live in, and a few sentences about why you think your song deserves to be included.

And before you go: good news

Four sea lion pups were released into the ocean off Los Angeles this month after months of rehabilitation. The Sacramento Bee reports this.

The baby sea lions were released on March 5 at Charlie Beach in Marina del Rey, drawing a crowd of more than 100 spectators who cheered as the animals waddled from the shore back to their ocean home.

Three of the sea lions were born last summer during a time when toxic algae blooms were spreading rapidly off the coast of Southern California, killing hundreds of sea lions and other marine animals.

The pups were found on the beaches of Malibu, Playa del Rey and Catalina Island, malnourished and separated from their mothers. They were rescued by the Marine Mammal Care Center, a nonprofit marine animal hospital, whose staff nursed the animals back to health. a video of the release posted on Facebook shows the four sea lions waddling across the beach towards the water.